Quantegy

[sonicmook56]

Hey everyone

I use a Audio Precision to allign tape machines at work, and I have noticed that the tape I have been getting (mostly GP9, somtimes 456) is crap, or maybe I forgot how to allign. It's been takeing me a very long time to get all the frequencys and bias correct, and at the best allingment I can get is awful compared to what I was getting 6 monthes ago.... I can pull a old shop tape that has been beat on by a transport for 3 years and get a perfect frequency responce curve, without a fight.

????

 

[gyraf]

Damn, those are bad news.



I feared that quality would drop after the reconstruction of the company.

We haven't purchased new tapes the last year, so I can't compare our results.

Can anyone with recently manufactured Q-tape confirm this?

 

[stickjam]

I was about to buy some 456 until I read something about quality problems (both coating and slitting issues) when they restarted and that they'd since been addressed. I wonder how one knows whether any given reel of tape came from a bum lot. Maybe Banjo Center got a deal on it. :roll:

--Bob

 

[fucanay]

There will be a new tape company soon. I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but I thought I throw it out here.

http://www.nothingsoundsliketape.com/

I looks like they are behind schedule, but they also seem committed to bringing a new brand of tape to the market.

Hope it helps.

Matt

 

[gyraf]

Yes, but it took BASF and Ampex some 25years to get it right - with next-to unlimited funding. Do you think these new guys will get it right from the start?

:roll:

I still fear the worst..

Jakob E.

 

[fucanay]

Honestly, I have no idea. I talked to a sales rep from the sister company ATR Services and he seemed pretty excited, granted I suppose that is his job.

He also said that they were going to take on formulas one at a time. Not to try to have a complete line when they flip over the open sign.

And these people really care about tape. Their entire business revolves around tape and tape machines.

Maybe someone here is going to NAMM and could stop to check them out. I'm not positive they are showing, but it would make sense.

Matt

 

[tommytones]

We just bought 12 reels of GP9 before the holidays and I can't say there was any problem(s) with alignment. I don't see why the quality of production would drop since it's still made in the same factory by most of the same people.

Maybe a freak bad batch???

 

[sonicmook56]

I personaly cant wait for the new ATR tape to come out. The stuff I have been getting is either hit or miss in quality. Last year around the time when the factory was closing I rember getting tape that had weird "birds eyes" and color diffrences on the oxide side :shock:

when we complaned to Qunatagy, they told us +/- .5 dB was normal! Not on my decks! I have about 2k worth on 1/2" on a shelf that just dosent work right. I cant give that to a client to mix down to, and now were stuck with it.

Well, today is Friday, so :guinness:
Ill post some sweeps later

 

[pstamler]

[quote author="gyraf"]Yes, but it took BASF and Ampex some 25years to get it right - with next-to unlimited funding. Do you think these new guys will get it right from the start?[/quote]

Ampex never got it right. BASF didn't really either; they just bought up Agfa, which did. That's the one I'm waiting for. Rumor has it they're selling limited quantities in Europe, not making enough to export yet.

Peace,
Paul

 

[CJ]

Scotch.

 

[stickjam]

[quote author="CJ"]Scotch.[/quote]
Duck Tape's the real deal! Bias doesn't matter because you can get it in just about any color you want. Sticky shed? Sure! It'll make anything sticky--even a shed! :grin:

 

[cannikin]

We all know CJ uses computers :razz: to record music

 

[CJ]

Well, I had an old timer (Narma) tell me he liked Scotch.
And he worked for Ampex.
Maybe he meant booze.
But he's not a boozin man.

 

[NewYorkDave]

Geez, am I the only one here who remembers that Scotch used to make recording tape?

Scotch 111 was the tape in the days before 456, etc.

(Also, look carefully at this photo of Norman Petty in his control room).

I remember that Scotch was still a force in the market at least into the '70s. I have hours of music and other crap recorded on Scotch, packed away... somewhere.

 

[stickjam]

[quote author="NewYorkDave"]Geez, am I the only one here who remembers that Scotch used to make recording tape?

Scotch 111 was the tape in the days before 456, etc.

I remember that Scotch was still a force in the market at least into the '70s. I have hours of music and other crap recorded on Scotch, packed away... somewhere.[/quote]

I've got a pile of that too. Of course, the Scotch recording tape division of 3M was purchased long ago by... Quantegy. (GP9 is the only remaining 3M formulation, IIRC)

 

[NewYorkDave]

3M used to make all sorts of stuff: tape machines, of course, and also video equipment. I've seen and used 3M routing switchers and distribution amplifiers at some of my jobs. That segment of 3M's business was spun off and became Pesa, who still make routing switchers to this day. As a matter of fact, we're presently installing a Pesa Tiger 144x144 at my job.

 

[CJ]

He's got a jug of shine below the 111.
Nice pultec there also.

 

[magicchord]

Quantegy GP9 is kind of a variation of the Scotch 996 formulation. Quantegy found they weren't set up to make 996 exactly as 3M had done it so they came up with GP9.


I used to use 3M 206 back in the day which was a good tape.

Then 3M 250 which was a great tape and I miss it.

 

[PRR]

> I have hours of music and other crap recorded on Scotch

Hours? I have weeks. At least 24 shelf-feet of 1/4" tape, mostly Scotch, a lot of 206 but also a lot of 111 and similar breeds running back into the 1950s. Also some Shamrock....

Is tape that hard to find? Is it worth dubbing cello recitals from 1956 to CD and eBaying this stuff? I'd have to get $50 per reel for time and trouble, but it's SO "vintage".

 

[pstamler]

[quote author="magicchord"]I used to use 3M 206 back in the day which was a good tape.

Then 3M 250 which was a great tape and I miss it.[/quote]

y...Yes, es, e..except for the serious level of print-through. ough.

EDIT: And, of course, the slitting, which wasn't much better than Ampex's.

Peace,
Paul